Woman moved by child's love

I realize we are past pumpkins and onto turkeys and elves, but I would like to share my Halloween story.

We handed out candy to nearly 400 children and found it refreshing to see parents teaching their kids manners - we heard please, thank you and God Bless surprisingly often.

Every year is fun but this year, one event truly touched my heart.

I sat in the drive with my therapy dog in training while someone else handed out candy. Some kids avoided the dog while others completely forgot about the candy in hopes of petting the "puppy."

At one point, we were overrun by at least 30 and in the mix was a special needs child who really wanted to hug the dog. His mother tried to explain that he couldn't but he just didn't understand.

Seeing how important it was to the child, I told his mother to wait until the crowd cleared and he could hug the dog. She seemed delighted.

I have concluded that God blesses us with special needs children to remind us of the joy to be found in simplicity. The boy's happiness at merely getting to love on my pup for a few minutes far surpassed any joy I saw this evening, save one: the joy on his mother's face as she watched his jubilant celebration dance after he got to hug my dog.

Now tell me, where in our busy schedules and political society can we find this kind of joy, let alone over something so simple?

I truly thank God for these special children and would like to thank this special boy's mother for bringing him by to hug my dog. It truly was the delight of my evening.

Lori Woodard

Calhoun

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Woman moved by child's love

I realize we are past pumpkins and onto turkeys and elves, but I would like to share my Halloween story.